First Place, Daniel Rick Severn, Massachusetts Blue ribbon moment (above) DANIEL RICK always takes a photo when his daughter, Morgan, enters a 4-H show with er horse, Dewey. But at this show in Linthicum, Maryland, Dewey took first place for the first time, and when Morgan stretched for a congratulatory kiss, her father was there to capture the moment. “Morgan pulled him down to her level to give him a thank-you kiss, and I happened to 48 ;e Costco Connection FEBRUARY 2013 get the shot right at the time they both closed their eyes,” says the proud father. “I think the photo is nice, but most of all the moment of capturing both subjects having closed their eyes at the same time is remarkable.” Rick heard about the Costco contest when he was picking up copies of the photo from his local Costco 1-Hour Photo Center. “The employee mentioned that there was a contest and they liked the picture and thought we should enter the contest,” he explains. For his winning entry, Rick was awarded a $1,500 Costco Cash card.—Tim Talevich The theme of the 2012 Costco Photo Contest, Give Us Your Best Shot, elici- ted 39,748 entries. This year’s contest, which was open to Costco members from 618 Costco warehouses in eight countries, resulted in vibrant, some- times breathtaking photos from every country in which Costco operates. Here are the winning U.S. members’ photos, along with the International Grand Prize winner from South Korea.

First Place, Daniel Rick

The United States’Photo Contest winners

Second Place, Ho YiBakersfield, California

Flower power (above middle)
FOR HO YI, photography is more than a
hobby: It’s a way for the busy Costco member
to communicate with people.

“I take photos to record my life and mem-ories,” she tells The Connection. “It’s not onlyto keep for myself, but to share with others.”“I really love the wildflowers; they’rereally beautiful,” she says. “I’ve been thinkingthat my daughter is my flower.”Yi says that her photo was taken in thespring of 2010, when she and her daughterdrove out to the see the flower-covered fieldsabout an hour away from her home.

Her online community of shutterbugs
provided enough positive feedback that
when an ad for Costco’s photo contest caught
her eye, she thought, “Why not?” Her last-minute entry marks the first contest she’s
entered since she picked up a camera 20
years ago.

Yi plans to share her $1,000 Costco Cash
card with her family, citing their constant
support of her hobby.—Stephanie E. Ponder